The Spaces In-Between

Into The Belly of the Beast

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as the Hyūga barred his path any further into the cavern.  He was wearing an ornamental robe that had be symbolic of the cult.  He was well beyond the others at this point and suspected that Y/N was ahead somewhere.  He knew that she had to be terrified as she had always been scared to death of the dark caves they had explored.  He had always been proud of her for trusting him enough to explore, despite that fear.

"Where is she?" he activated his chidori with the words.

"By now... food for the beast," The Hyūga smirked.  "Fool tried to escape and went running right into its lair.  Now we wait for the beast to either accept the sacrifice or we start all over again."

"You won't get another chance," Kakashi responded.   "We will exterminate your filth from the earth once and for all."

The Hyūga lunged towards him.  Kakashi evaded and blocked the moves the other man was throwing at him, knowing if he got hit it would be detrimental to his chakra network.  The other man was fast, quite possibly as fast as Neji had been.  He growled at the delay he was causing.  If what he said was true, he had to get past him now.  His frustration was making him careless as he tried to end the fight.  The Hyūga made contact with his right leg and it crumpled under him, throwing him off balance.  He cursed and rolled out of the way of the next attack which would have had worse consequences had those palms made connection with him.

As he evaded the next attack, he switched his tactics and instead of evading he went into the attack, blocking the fists coming at him and going for the other man's throat.  Too late the Hyūga saw the intent as Kakashi slammed his chidori through his heart, his other hand around the man's neck. He held him as such until the light left the other man's eyes before he tossed him to the side without another thought.  He continued on, limping from the hit to his leg which was half numb.

If there was a dragon in this cave, he should wait for Naruto to catch up to him but he could not wait even that long.  He entered one larger cavern and saw ropes that had been burned off.  He was getting closer.  He raised the level of his chidori so that he could see better and noticed drag marks across the ground.  He followed them and as he turned a corner, he could hear moaning.

Kakashi followed the sound to a very small crevice in the rock that a medium sized boulder had pushed in front of.  He struck the rock and it exploded into pieces.  He then saw Guy's foot coming out from a very small opening.  How in the hell did he get in there?  It took him a moment but he was finally able to get Guy pulled out of the crevice.

"Kakashi... I apologize, I was unable to stop them... Where am I?"

"You don't remember being brought here with Y/N?"

"No, the cowards knocked me out..."

Kakashi felt a tremor roll over him and knew in his heart it was Y/N.  He put his hand on Guy's shoulder, "Stay here until we return."  He left his friend behind and cursed that his leg was not in top condition as it was slowing him down.

***

Y/N backed up to the back of the cavern wall as that glowing red eye burned into her mind.  She flinched as it roared, "SPEAK!" as black liquid fell out of its mouth.  Terror had never been more fitting a word.  She swallowed hard, knowing she was dead whether she answered or not.  There was no defeating a beast like this.

"I'm from another dimension," she managed to squeak out.

"You have the stench of the Atlantians upon you..." he spoke in that gravelly voice. "How did you come here, Atlantian?"